Salvador Dalí

M. Knoedler & Co., Inc., New York
Acquired from the above in the 1970s

New York, M. Knoedler & Co., Inc., Dalí: Paintings & Drawings 1965-70, 1970, no. 24
Basel, Galerie Beyeler, Surréalisme et peinture, 1974, no. 34
New York, M. Knoedler & Co., Inc., Surrealism in Art, 1975, no. 35

This work is in very good condition. The pigments are bright and fresh and the surface is richly textured.Executed on cream wove paper, laid down on card. The sheet is hinged to the mount on the reverse of the upper corners. Some waviness to the sheet throughout which appears to be inherent to the artist's intention and application of medium. Some shrinkage in areas of thickest pigment which appears to be intentional for the most part although this has lead to some scattered minor spots of surface paint loss. Some minor handling creases to the edge of the sheet. Very slightly time darkened. Otherwise, fine.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Created for Gala, Dalí’s wife and muse, this celestial work on paper exemplifies the artist’s desire to reconcile the irreconcilable and ground the ethereal in the earthly realm. By 1970 Dalí had refined his Dalínian universe to be an intermediary dimension: one suspended between heaven and earth. Here, a towering angel stands within and apart of the rock structure in a dominion above that mirrors what is below.  At her feet sits a diminutive figure straddling the realms who waits for his transfiguration, a theme that enthralled Dalí as early as the 1940s. The angel is the artist’s muse as well as the transmitter of idea to reality, ethereal to corporeal. Francine Prose expounds: “We recognize that the heavenly muse invoked by Milton and Spenser belongs to a purer, loftier, and more attractive branch of the same family as Gala Dalí, the shamelessly earthy muse of her husband, Salvador. When a Surrealist artist was working well, he was said to be in love with Gala,” (Francine Prose, The Lives of the Muses: Nine Women and the Artists They Inspired, New York, 2002, p. 5).

This intimate work was expressly conceived and executed for Gala’s singular enjoyment within her private castle. In 1968 Dalí purchased a home in Púbol, Girona for Gala, where he was only welcome upon receiving her written permission. The power of Gala’s artistic inspiration for Dalí held sway for the five decades of their marriage, and Dalí used to describe Gala as essential to his sense of self.  He began signing his works with both his and her names in the 1930s because: “it is mostly with your blood, Gala, that I paint my pictures,” (ibid, pp. 187-226). “Gala struck me as having a very intelligent face. She was destined to be my Gradiva, ‘she who advances,’ my victory, my wife! Gala was reviving my faith in myself. Gala demonstrated to me by a thousand inspired arguments, burning with faith, that I could become something,” (Dalí quoted in Ramón Gómez de la Serna, Dalí, New York, 1979, pp. 225-226).